Hundreds sign petition asking for water quality plan
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) Several organizations and hundreds of citizens have petitioned the state of Montana to suspend the issuance of wastewater discharge permits under minimal water quality standards.
Holding true to its promise made a month ago, the Upper Missouri Waterkeeper submitted a petition to the Department of Environmental Quality requesting a pause on the granting of wastewater discharge permits until the agency develops a science-based plan to protect Montana’s waterways from nutrient pollution.
Over the past month, a dozen conservation organizations and 900 Montana citizens from Billings to Bigfork signed the online petition. The Upper Missouri Waterkeeper had set a goal of 1,000 petitioners, and although the petition has been submitted to DEQ, it will remain open until the end of the year.
“It’s no secret that nutrient pollution remains a top issue causing degradation in our waterways. The agency’s 2020 Integrated Report estimated that approximately 35% of Montana’s assessed waterways are already impaired by nutrient pollution. Without a narrative translator and implementing rules, DEQ will be forced to make subjective permit decisions absent clear scientific guidance necessary to protect and restore local water quality,” the petition said.
“Nutrients” refer to chemicals containing nitrogen or phosphorus that encourage plant growth, primarily algae, in lakes and streams. A primary source of nitrogen and phosphorus is human and animal waste, along with plant fertilizers. Nutrient pollution can promote excessive algae growth, which can clog streams and cover substrate habitat, rob water of oxygen and, in some cases, poison the water.
With streams flowing lower and warmer each summer, algae is a growing threat in Montana’s once-legendary trout streams. This August, DEQ had 31 reports of algae blooms across the state, compared to 18 last August. Fort Peck Reservoir still has a caution advisory for algae blooms with dead salmon observed at the Duck Creek Recreation Area.
Prior to Oct. 3, Montana had numeric criteria for nitrogen and phosphorus that were set in 2015. Once those limits were exceeded, a lake or stream was considered impaired, prompting efforts to limit the nutrients. But the 2021 and 2025 Montana Legislatures passed bills requiring the DEQ to set narrative limits, which are less restrictive because streams aren’t impaired until they appear impaired, at which point the nutrient levels are often higher than the numeric limits.
Anglers and clean-water watchdogs like numeric limits, while some small towns with limited wastewater budgets, backed by the Montana League of Cities and Towns, and industries like ranching and mining oppose them. The Montana Legislature supported the latter. However, the EPA, which had been encouraging more states to adopt numeric standards, wouldn’t approve less-restrictive narrative standards. Until this year.
In May, DEQ asked the EPA to approve its narrative standard. A month later, the Upper Missouri Waterkeeper petitioned the EPA to reject the DEQ’s request. However, on Oct. 3, the Trump administration granted DEQ’s request, saying the narrative standard met the standards of the Clean Water Act.
That potentially opens the door for DEQ to issue wastewater permits that allow increased nutrient levels to be discharged into Montana’s surface and groundwater, adding more harm. Scientists believe that excess consumption of even a small amount of nitrates can do significant harm to the human body; they can cause debilitating conditions in newborns and have been linked to increased risks of cancer.
“This pollution rule rollback affects every one of us that rely on clean water. We hope DEQ will take this call seriously and do what’s right for Montana’s waterways - and that starts with a halt on all discharge permits for the state’s largest polluters, not issuing permits with significantly increased discharge limits, as we recently saw with the Stillwater Mine.” said Guy Alsentzer, Executive Director of Upper Missouri Waterkeeper.
DEQ did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.